Christian Devotional – January 2, 2020

Day 2 – Nehemiah begins to pray. Read Nehemiah 1:5-8.

I said, “I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples;
Nehemiah 1:5‭-‬8 NASB
https://bible.com/bible/100/neh.1.5-8.NASB

Nehemiah was confronted with a God-sized problem. It was huge! The issues and the concerns he saw and were faced with were so much bigger than anything else he had ever encountered, but yet he couldn’t stop thinking about it. So what did Nehemiah do? He prayed. He went straight to the one who is big enough to solve all of those problems. And interestingly, he starts out by acknowledging God’s amazing and overwhelming power.

God is truly awesome and holy and powerful. Nehemiah knew this and he began by praising God for who he is. Then, we see through his prayer, he next begins to confess. Nehemiah knows that he and the people are sinful. They have no right to come before a holy God, but yet God has allowed them into his presence. So he comes with a repentant heart seeking the Lord and seeking his forgiveness.

When we are faced with difficult problems that seem so huge that we can’t possibly do with them on our own, what do we do? Do we take our problems to God? Do we allow God the opportunity to hear our heart and to align our heart with his heart? What’s more, do we recognize that God is as big and powerful enough to conquer any issue or any situation that we find ourselves confronted with? And finally do we repent? Are we willing to come before God and to lay bare our shortcomings and our failings and everything we’ve tried that simply can’t measure up to the greatness of who he is.

That is what repentance is. As we understand who God is, we see very clearly how far short we fall of his glory and greatness. What problem are we confronting today? What area are we seeking to give over more to God today? Begin with prayer, acknowledging who he is and all he’s done, and repent for who you are and all you’ve done.